The Secret Marksman
by EcoSeeker247
Summary: He's a skilled knife fighter.  He knows how to handle machine guns and flash grenades.  But where did he learn how to shoot a bow and arrow?  Find out in this tale of rediscovering a part of him that he had left behind a long time ago.  *Pre RE4 oneshot*


All right! I don't know how many of you remember this oneshot. It was up in December, but then I took it down when I was doing a slight clean up of my account. On request, I decided to put it back up. I've edited it a little bit, but it's still pretty much the same from last time. This takes place a little bit before my story, "Resident Evil: The Other Side". There are very minor hints of KrauserxOC, but nothing more than that. This story was originally inspired by RE4's Mercenaries side game, where Krauser's main weapon is a bow and arrow. With that in mind, here's the oneshot!

**DISCLAIMER: **Only Audrey Fagan is mine. Everyone else belongs to Capcom.

_Italics- _Flashback within a flashback

* * *

><p><em>Ding ding! <em>

The silence that usually filled the secret Umbrella facility was broken with the sound of a communicator going off.

"_Hey, Krauser_!" A familiar female voice announced as Jack Krauser turned and looked at his communication device, where his forced partner, Audrey Fagan, waved to him and smirked. It had been two months since they had met each other at this point, and he didn't have to hide his annoyance around her anymore. As of now, they were on a break from one of Wesker's many missions, as well as preparing for their mission to Spain.

"What is it, kid?" he asked, "I'm in the middle of something."

"_Yeah, right_!" she cried from her end, "_You say that every time. Think fast!_" She quickly disappeared from his screen. _What the hell? _Krauser asked himself, scratching his head, _How the hell did I get stuck with her as my partner? _

Suddenly, an arrow whizzed by his head, and he had to duck as it lodged itself in the wall, wobbling a little bit upon contact. The soldier whirled around to see Audrey wielding a bow and arrow and clearly trying to see how she would fare with archery.

"Audrey!" he shouted, rushing over to her, "What the hell are you doing with my bow and arrow?"

"I found it when I was leaving the room after getting dressed," Audrey explained, smirking.

"So you just decided you were going to take it and not ask me? You would, Fagan." _She can be so immature sometimes, _he thought to himself.

Audrey rolled her eyes. "Oh, _Krauser,_" she sighed, "You've got to lighten up a little bit." She raised the bow and arrow again.

"You're holding it wrong," Krauser explained, moving behind her so that he could correct her form, "You've got to raise your arm up like this." He moved her left arm out in front of her and pulled her right arm back. He also got her to move her feet apart a little bit by moving one of his hands down to her waist so that he could position her.

"Here," he said, "Aim for that wall." Audrey was acutely aware of his touch, but brushed it off just as fast. They still couldn't stand each other after a whole two months had gone by.

"Now, let go." Audrey let go of the bow and watched as it hit its target perfectly. Moving out of form, she gaped at the weapon and then at Krauser.

"Jack Krauser," she gasped, "The muscular soldier who knows how to fight with guns and knives and sports scars on his face. Where did you learn archery?"

Krauser shook his head as he sat down on a lab table. "You don't want to hear it, kid," he said to her, "It's not important."

Smirking, Audrey moved to stand in front of him. "What?" she teased, "You think I'm going to run back and tell Wesker?"

"It's not that. He doesn't even know I'm a marksman."

"I won't tell him. I promise."

Krauser looked up at his partner for a minute and realized she was serious. He _supposed _it wouldn't hurt to tell her the story, even though she still got under his skin every now and then. Anything to get her off his back for now.

"Sit down, kid," he decided, patting the space on the table next to him. Audrey quickly climbed up and sat close to him as he began the tale of how he learned archery and where it all began.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Three years ago, at the training base…<strong>_

It had been a whirlwind chain of events, but in an interesting turn of events in 2001, someone in the government agency had decided to bring a bow and arrow to the training base. This had been back when he and Leon Scott Kennedy were actually friends. Before South America.

"Hey, check this out, Krauser!" Leon announced as he caught his friend in the cafeteria.

"What's going on?" the soldier asked.

"One of the other guys brought his bow and arrow from home and he's giving archery lessons!"

Krauser scoffed. "Archery?" he replied, "Really? You've got to be shitting me, comrade!"

Leon shook his head. "I'm not," he insisted, "Almost everyone in our training session is there. I think you'd like it, Krauser. You know how to fight with everything else. Why not a bow and arrow?"

Krauser considered it for a minute. "Oh, what the hell?" he decided, getting up so that he could follow Leon, "Might as well watch these guys make fools of themselves!" Leon snorted into his hand and began to lead Krauser over to the practice site, where they normally practiced armed and knife combat. A few of the other agents were already trying to practice, which made Krauser scoff to himself. Leon just watched in fascination.

"All right, who's next?" the agent who owned the bow and arrow called out. Leon stepped forward.

"I'll give it a shot," he volunteered. Krauser just stepped back and watched as his comrade went through basic training. He watched as the agent in charge corrected his form, and he couldn't help but be the least bit interested. Archery was simple enough, he remembered from a long time ago. Even Leon Scott Kennedy could master it.

"Anyone else?" the marksman piped up, glancing around until he spotted Krauser standing in a far away corner.

"You!" he cried, pointing at the soldier, "You look like you have the skills of an archer!"

Some of the others glanced at Krauser just as Leon piped up, "Yeah, Krauser! You should try it!"

_Damn you, Kennedy, _Krauser cursed to himself as he marched forward. All eyes were on him now as he took the bow and arrow out of the marksman's hand.

"I knew you would come around, Krauser!" the agent exclaimed excitedly as Krauser raised the bow. The agent, whose name was Mark Peterson, quickly corrected Krauser's form before positioning his bow and arrow towards the target. _No need for that, Peterson, _Krauser thought to himself as he rolled his eyes.

"Ready?" Peterson cried, "Shoot!"

Frowning, Krauser let go of the arrow and watched as it sailed towards the target in the distance…and managed to strike the bulls eye right in the center. For a minute, nobody could say a word, not even Leon. Nobody else had managed to strike the target on their first time, but Jack Krauser was a natural.

"Whoa," Peterson finally gasped after the shock wore off, "You're a natural! How did you do that?"

Krauser scoffed. "It was easy," he replied, "Let me try again." Peterson handed over the bow and arrow, and as he was setting up, Krauser noticed that Leon had mysteriously disappeared.

The bulky soldier let go of the arrow and watched as it struck just underneath the bulls eye. Everyone around him cheered, and Krauser couldn't help but smirk to himself. This was child's play! Handing over the weapon to someone else, Krauser tiptoed away from the rest of the group and went to find Leon. Where had the former Raccoon City police officer disappeared to?

"Boo!" Leon suddenly quipped from a dark corner, making Krauser gasp for a second.

"Comrade!" he snapped, "Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry," Leon apologized, "I couldn't help but find this on your bunk bed earlier." He handed over a photograph of Krauser accepting a trophy for best marksman. Krauser was at least a teenager in the photo.

"Oh, _Kennedy_," Krauser groaned, "Where the hell did you get that?"

"Like I said," Leon replied, "It was on your bunk bed. I didn't know you took up archery in high school! You should have said something before we went out into the field!"

"It's not one of my more proud moments," Krauser mumbled.

"Why not? You looked like you were pretty good at it!"

"_Archery, _comrade?"

"Yeah! Why wouldn't you be proud of that?"

Krauser sighed. "I got made fun of a lot for always carrying a bow and arrow around with me," he explained as he and Leon sat down on the bunk bed, "They used to call me 'Medieval Jack'. It was embarrassing!"

* * *

><p><em>Out of all the memories Jack Krauser had of archery, the only one that really stuck out in his mind was the archery competition against his rival high school. <em>

_"This is it, Jack!" one of the other archers on his team said encouragingly, "Ready for this?" _

_"Hopefully," Krauser replied, readying his bow and arrow. _

_"Yeah!" another teammate cheered, "Medieval Jack will help us out with this!" _

_Krauser faced the other senior. "Never call me that again," he warned. _

_"You're the captain. We had to give you a nickname!" _

_"Anything but that," Krauser replied as he readied his bow and arrow. _

_"Archers!" someone announced, raising a flag, "Ready?" _

_Krauser, his teammates, and a few other rival archers nodded. _

_"Go!" _

_All of them let go of their arrows, and Krauser's was one of the few that managed to strike the center of the target, while everyone else's landed around it. Slowly, all the archers were eliminated from each round until Krauser and one of the other rivals were left. The other high school senior just glared at Krauser, but the latter didn't care. He just readied his next arrow and let go when the announcer told them they could. He watched with satisfaction as the arrow landed in the middle of the target, therefore allowing his team to win. _

_"YAY!" everyone cheered as most of the team picked Krauser up from the ground and lifted him into the air. _

_"Looks like Medieval Jack's done it again!" _

_And in that moment, Jack Krauser felt proud of himself. He had pulled through for his team. _

* * *

><p>Leon couldn't help but laugh and shake his head. He couldn't believe this was something his friend was ashamed of. He would have to change that.<p>

"Well, you kicked ass back on the field today, that's for sure," the ex-RPD officer said in response. Krauser scoffed.

"I'm serious," Leon insisted, "I heard them cheering even though I wasn't there. And I saw how you looked victorious. You were proud of yourself."

The soldier looked up from his lap. "I guess you're right," he said, "It felt pretty good to shoot a bow and arrow again. I didn't think I'd remember, to tell you the truth. I haven't shot an arrow since high school."

Leon chuckled. "Don't make yourself sound so ancient," he joked.

"I never said I was ancient," Krauser replied, genuinely smiling for the first time that day.

"Come back to the field," Leon coaxed, "Show them your skills! Who knows? You'd probably get some good headshots with a bow and arrow! More than with a gun!"

"You're right. Thanks, comrade." They got up from the bunk and returned to the field outside, where Krauser took over the bow and arrow once again, repeatedly shooting the target and striking the bulls eye every time. The cheering resonated in his ears, and Krauser closed his eyes and smiled as he held up the bow in victory.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Present times...<em>**

"And that's how I knew archery," Krauser finished as Audrey got up to stand in front of him again.

"The secret marksman, huh?" she teased, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Not there," Krauser corrected, "Here, yes. Imagine if Wesker and Ada knew." He shook his head, and Audrey couldn't help but laugh a little bit.

"Well, I'm certain of one thing now," she replied, "When our mission is over, I'd like you to teach me archery."

Krauser scoffed. "Don't count on it, kid," he told her, "We'll be at each other's throats again."

Audrey rolled her eyes. "I almost forgot about that," she said, "It didn't feel like that now." She suddenly heard her pager go off.

"Wesker's calling," she announced, "I better go see what it is. Probably about Spain."

"_Everything's _about Spain with him," Krauser piped up, "See you around, kid." Winking, Audrey left the room, leaving Krauser with his bow and arrow that she had taken before. Frowning in thought, he walked over to it and picked it up, aiming an arrow like he was going to shoot something.

He was surprised Audrey was so interested in everything about him, given how they didn't get along very well. But maybe that could change. Maybe they _could_ after what happened today. He decided that on the way to kidnapping Ashley, he would ask Audrey Fagan to stop picking fights with him. For their sake and the sake of the mission. He only hoped she would respond in agreement.

However, he didn't realize that she was already way ahead of him on that.


End file.
